KAHUI’S FLAGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5474, 31 December 1904, Page 5

KAHUI’S FLAGS.

A PIECE OF HISTORY. THE TARANAKI MAORIS. (By Our Special Reporter.) Tho flags which float over the pa of the Ngatihaupoto at tho’New Plymouth Exhibition have been a source of great curiosity to visitors to tho exhibition. They wero designed by Kahui, the old chief of tho tribe; but before the occasion arrived on which he should introduce them to tho public tho chief died, and tho secret seemed to bo buried with him. On Tuesday, however, when I was in the pa, Kabul's brother Tauroa. volunteered to explain tho purport of the flags as detailed to him by Kahui before his death. It will bo noticed that there are several deviations from historical fact, but tho explanations are given literally as translated by tho interpreter, Mr V' . Reid. Tho topmost flag, one of many colours, bears tho inscription “Taranaki Popokorua, 1857.” The date, Tauroa states, is incorrect. In the white section nearest the staff is tho representation of a mountain, Taranaki (Egmont). Tho flag history all belongs to the Maori days, honoo the significance of certain of the terms used. Tho next band on tho flag is red. This denotes the advent of the white man, tho arrival of tho first native Cbmmissionors, and the blood that was spilt in consequence. Then there is a band of yoh low, on which tho date, 1857, should be. for it was in that year that the Taranaki natives renounced the «aikato King, Potatau. This brought upon them a curse, “popokorua,” with tho additional designation of Tlun Kuri,” dogs. Tho next flag, a largo yellow ono, boars the inscription "Okurukuru, 1852,'' and represents the Treaty of AVnitangi, concluded between all the native chiefs on tho ono hand, and Governor Hobson on the other, about a decade earlier. Okurukuru means a confiscated boundary, and the term is applied to tho boundary south of New Plymouth. North of that line the land was sold for blankets, pipes, pots, hoopiron, and fhh-hooks- , . The next flag, blearing th© inscription “O Kurilpu, 1851,” is blue, rod and white stripes. “0 Ivurupu” is the name of a house, and the flag represents the division of the Maoris into tribes. The boundary, as far as Taranaki was concerned, was at Paritutu. The Ngatiawa wero north of this, and had as their chief To Kapi, oto Rangi. South of tho lino was regarded as Taranaki proper, and the chief was Ruaturiwhati. There was another boundary defined on the south-eastern spur of the mountain, dividing tho Taranaki tribes from the Ngatiruanui. The pa was called Kakaratonga, and the line extended tiom there to the, coast at Qtakeho. From this point to Patoa tho land was owned by the Hawora natives. There is a record of a groat internecine battle being fought at Karaka-a-tonga. The next flag, inscribed “AVaitara, 1860,” denotes the outbreak of the war on March 17th of that year. Tho last flag of all is a white one, inscribed “Te Haeata Rangimario, 1866. ’ “EangimariG’.’ means “peace, and “haeata” “a streak of morning light, the poetical diction signifying that peace came wide over tho land like the rays of dawn. It was in this year that General Ohnt© went round the district, and concluded tho compact of peace. In the bottom corners are representations of pois, indicating that peace has come to bo abiding, and that women, not war, shall hereafter give pleasure. Tho Maori kingdom is for ever abolished, and tho poi symbolises the reign of peace.